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The Guardia Civil's UCO serious crimes squad has dismantled the largest network dedicated to the illegal import of botulinum toxin - more commonly recognised by its commercial name botox - in Spain, in the last few days. The substance, which was imported from South Korea via the fraudulent network, was destined for both clandestine and legal clinics in various parts of the country and carried no guarantees for its safety. According to sources close to the investigation, the toxin has caused "serious sequelae" to several patients.
UCO officers, in collaboration with AEAT (Spain's national tax agency), have arrested four people and brought charges against 41 others, following the investigation which started back in 2023. The accusations range from crimes against public health to fraud, professional intrusion and membership of a criminal organisation.
On Monday 3 February, the Guardia Civil said that the investigation had targeted 24 clinics in the provinces of Cadiz, Madrid, Malaga, Córdoba, Seville and Alicante.
The organisation, which has been bringing the illegal products into Spain through the port and airport of Seville, based its business on offering the services of its 'associated' clinics at competitive prices. Promotion was primarily on social media, where tracking of such clandestine services is much more difficult.
During the operation, the Guardia Civil, seized 700 vials of botox which is used to reduce wrinkles in the skin, 275 vials of hyaluronidase (intended to counteract the negative effects of some treatments), more than 200 containers of lidocaine (a local anaesthetic), as well as more than a thousand pre-filled syringes of hyaluronic acid (also used to eliminate wrinkles), tensor threads and specific machinery, such as centrifuges for carrying out platelet-rich plasma treatments (used to delay skin ageing).
The operation began two years ago, when the UCO received information that numerous clinics were advertising beauty treatments on social media, without the correct licences or staff. The investigators detected a significant increase in medicine and treatment-related seizues in Seville. It was then discovered that all of those products were being offered on South Korean pharmaceutical websites.
In addition to the arrests, the UCO carried out searches in properties in San Pedro de Alcántara (Malaga), Torrevieja (Alicante) and Cartagena (Murcia), as well as 24 inspections in clinics in six provinces, where 40 seizures of illegal medicines and products were registered.
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